


In this painted world

by martinnn



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Gen, This is Bad, i'm just posting because i have serious hidekane feelings, its gen because there's zero (0) romance, jesus christ i just took the title from unravel, like i don't like it, lmao i spend 20 minutes trying to find a hospital, this is rated t for i tried
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 09:15:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12932181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/martinnn/pseuds/martinnn
Summary: i will probably abandon this within a week





	In this painted world

**Author's Note:**

> i will probably abandon this within a week

In primary school, everyone was taught the colours, even though the majority of children couldn’t differentiate purple from blue.

Hide remembers this, vividly. He remembers becoming infuriated because the red flower looked exactly like the orange flower. His grandmother had tried to help, but she already met her soulmate and she could see colors; it wasn’t fair! So Hide had suffered through and guessed on his quizzes and somehow managed to pass year one. 

But then year two came and there was a new kid at their school. Everyone was talking about him-- it seemed like Hide already knew all about “Kaneki” before he even saw him. Hide thought he would meet Kaneki and they would become friends because Hide was pretty good at making friend right?

Oh how he was wrong. Everything changed when he met Kaneki.

He could still remember it. He’d seen the back of a head of dark hair, he could hear the crunch of rocks under his feet as he moved to greet the new kid, he could even feel the growth of a smile on his face and the formation of “Hey!” on his lips. But Kaneki turned before he could say anything, their eyes met, and everything was different. It happened quicker than a lightning strike. Hide heard something like a loud heartbeat, or maybe a cannon boom, and suddenly everything was in colour. It was a little overwhelming. Everything was blindingly bright. Hide was overwhelmed by the bright blue (or what he would later learn as blue) of the sky and the vivid red of the monkey bars and the pretty orange of the tree leaves as they turned in the fall weather. His feet skitted to a stop as he took in his new world, eyes wide. And then he looked back to Kankei, and when he recognized the same amazed look on the boy’s face, everything snapped into place. Kaneki Ken was his soulmate.

Kaneki was really timid, Hide would later come to learn. He kept to himself a lot, books preferable to friends. After their initial meeting and revelation of soulmates, they agreed-- or more like Hide instated-- that dating wasn’t an option as second years. They became the bestest of friends nevertheless; wherever Hide was Kaneki wasn’t far behind (though if that was Kaneki’s wish or Hide’s iron grip on his wrist was undecipherable). Even up into high school, the two kept their promise of not entering a relationship. It was only after they graduated that a shaky and messy relationship began.

It was odd, them together as an item. Hide, for all his flirtatious zeal, had never actually been in a relationship before. As an avid believer in soulmates, he stayed clear of romance with any other person.He didn’t really know what to “do” exactly and Kaneki’s idea of a date was to go to the bookstore which was boooring. But they figured it out somehow anyway. Hide loved it. He loved Kaneki. He loved seeing colours. And he loved to make Kaneki happy.  
So when he told Hide that he was going to the bookstore with some girl who liked the same author as him, Hide had no qualms with that. It was a harmless get together. Hide wasn’t worried about Kaneki’s faithfulness or anything (Hide hung out with girls all the time). Besides, it made Kaneki happy and Hide looked forward to a night alone so he could catch up on the latest episodes of a perfectly respectable Shojo anime. 

Kaneki texted him when he met with the girl-- Rize. He continued to text him throughout the whole evening. When he said that he was escorting Rize home, seeing as how she lived near the recent ghoul attacks, Hide complimented his boyfriend (who was scared of his own shadow) on being so brave and made him promise to come home safe.

Kaneki broke his promise.

It was much much later when Hide realized Kaneki hadn’t messaged him-- obviously enough time for him to drop off Rize-- almost four episodes later. Hide frowned as he at last flicked off the television and grabbed his cell off the coffee table. Still nothing. Hide sighed and went back to their bedroom. He laid down, assuming Kaneki would just be home later. He’d wake up and Kaneki would be curled up next to him, as he always was, dark hair ruffled and eyes cloudy with sleep.

Instead, Hide woke to cold sheets and no Kaneki. Only then did he began to worry a little bit. He fully began panicking when he collecting his phone to find no new messages or calls. Where the hell was Kaneki? He threw open the lock on his phone and dialed Kaneki’s number. At the very least, someone else would pick up and then he could get the police to track the phone. It went to voicemail. He tried again. Voicemail.

Hide called again and again and finally, on the sixth call, someone picked up.

“Kaneki?”

“No, sir. This is Nurse Asako from Hikarigaoka Hospital. Are you a relative of Mr. Ken’s?” It was a female’s voice.

Hide took a shaky breath. “Yes,” he said, hoping the waver in his voice didn’t make her doubt his small lie-- they were soulmates after all.

“We apologize for any inconvenience. Mr. Ken was brought in very early this morning. He was in a terrible accident. Some equipment from a faulty construction site fell. He was with another girl and the severity was so great… Well, if you’re next of kin then you have the right to call off the operation--”

Hide’s blood chilled in his veins. “Operation?” He echoed.

“Yes sir. Our head surgeon took executive order to transplant the young deceased lady’s organs into Mr. Ken. We can halt the operation at your word, but without it, Mr. Ken will most likely--”

“No.” Hide’s voice really shook now. “No. Do whatever it takes to save Kaneki.” A blind Kaneki or a disabled Kaneki was better than no Kaneki in his mind.

There was a beat of silence. “Yes sir, I’ll let Dr. Kano know.”

The line went dead and with it so did Hide’s strength. He blindly reached out to hold something. A chair was the 1st thing he found, and he was surprised the wood didn’t splinter with how much weight he put on it. It was okay. Kaneki was going to be okay. It was just a… major accident. Nothing they couldn’t spring back from with unconditional support. 

At least, that’s what Hide told himself as he slipped his shoes and jacket on. Yeah that was it; he just needed to be there for Kaneki.

But as he rushed out to physically run to the hospital, one shoe was still untied and vision-- especially that in his left eye-- was just a little less colourful.

**Author's Note:**

> i want to continue? but i hate this? so no?


End file.
